"In any language, the whole world is united by a ball." --- Steve Amoia, Publisher.

Monday, November 5, 2007

The Great Swedish "Mister" Nils Liedholm, Il Barone

Image courtesyof Wikipedia. Clickthe image to see videohighlights of his career.

Today, at his home in the Northern Italian province of Alessandria, Nils Liedholm, one of the greatest players and coaches to grace the Italian peninsula, died at the age of 85.

World Cup Record

As a player, he won a gold medal at the 1948 Olympics. He was also vice-champion of the world in 1958 for Sweden, who lost in the final to Brasil. According to Wikipedia, Mr. Liedholm is the oldest player (36) to ever score in a World Cup final. Sweden lost that day, 2 x 5, to the Brasil of the young Pele'.

Italian Career

He began his Italian experience in the 1950s for AC Milan. Along with Gunnar Gren and Gunnar Nordhahl, Mr. Liedholm was part of the famous Gre-No-Li line. As a player, he won the Italian championship four times. Later as the coach of AC Milan and AS Roma, he won a championship with each one, respectively. In 1984, while coaching Roma, he lost the historic final of the European Cup against Liverpool in Rome. He also coached at Fiorentina, Monza, Varese, and Verona in a stellar managing career that lasted over 35 years.

In Italy, he was affectionately known as "Il Barone." He married an Italian woman, and most of his long life was spent in his adopted country.

"But one can't criticize only catenaccio. You can defend in midfield, with a 1000 tactical fouls. I used to repeat to my players: If you made a foul, you made two mistakes. The ball remains with them and you sent a message of weakness. I used to train a great deal, against one or two players, to be able to take the ball away without fouling them."

You will also find a review about Carlo Ancelotti's excellent book on tactics. There are excerpts from a factual novel about Gaetano Scirea along with Francesco Totti's humorous yet historical guidebook on ancient Rome.

6. Featured Review

Image credit: Nation Books.

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